This Is Both A Sin And A Tragedy
by Eliza4892
Summary: There are just some reasons why you shouldn't invite the loser to the winner's victory party. This is one of them.


"It's been quite a day hasn't it?"

She didn't even look over at Alex when he said it. Izzie was too busy watching the dirty blonde haired woman mingle her way through the crowd of friends and family. She did it with ease, and even with a smile on her face. Maybe it was a natural thing for her, or maybe she was just doing a good job of keeping her mask in place. All Izzie knew is she didn't think she'd still be standing after all of this.

"Iz?" Concern seeped into his voice. "Iz, are you alright?"

Now she shifted slightly unfocused eyes towards him, giving him a small smile. "I'm fine."

"Yeah," he reached over and removed the half-empty glass of red wine from her grasp, setting it down on the beige table cloth. "And the wine is helping with this fine thing I'm sure."

She frowned. "Alex, it's a wedding reception. It's a time where people get drunk so they can be happy for their friends instead of bitter and angry." Holding his gaze, she made a grab for her glass but he snatched it away.

"They drink a glass or two of champagne and then puke it up in a few hours. They don't work their way through a bottle of red wine." At some point he noticed that even though she seemed to be looking at him, she was actually looking over his shoulder, and his hand touched her cheek, gently turning her eyes back on him. "And this glass half empty thing isn't like you either."

Okay, so on the wine thing he was right. However at the moment she needed that wine. Her shoes were killing her, she'd been awake almost forty eight hours straight, and by some cruel twist of fate the color of her bridesmaid's dress was a deep rose color that matched her prom dress from years ago to the shade. Currently the last was annoying her more than the first two because Derek Shepherd had gone and asked her if she'd worn that dress before. She'd had to restrain herself from glaring and wishing karma would bite him in the ass. Which it did as a matter of fact, but in such a way that she wouldn't have wished on anyone.

"You're right, it's not like me. And smiling and pretending like it's normal to have your husband's ex-wife at your wedding is definitely not like Meredith so I guess we're all a little off tonight." One last grab for the wine glass and he didn't even bother to swat her hand away. "I'm sorry, it's just kind of sad. I mean who the hell had the guts to invite Addison?"

"I'm more surprised she decided to come." He replied, sounding irritated at the prospect.

"I don't know why you're acting all pissy about it. She never did anything wrong to you." He raised an eyebrow and she bit her lip to contain her giggles as it occurred to her what he was hinting at. "Except for turning you into a gynecologist but you survived."

"Barely," he muttered and she watched him search out the redhead in the crowd of people. Not that she wasn't easy to find.

They'd been halfway through the ceremony when she'd noticed the whispering picked up among the guests without warning. It took a mere glance at the door to answer her question. Addison had walked in wearing a black jacket that looked to be the one that Meredith had described her as wearing the night Meredith first found out Derek had a wife. Through the slight opening in the jacket she could see the bright red peeking out. Later, when said jacket came off she noticed it was a red dress designed to make her stand out. The cut, the color, the way it hit her curves. Right then she admired the woman for her boldness. Addison took a seat, towards the back, and at the reception she hung around Nancy, Derek's sister. Meredith had talked with Addison briefly, to be polite, but Izzie hadn't seen McDreamy himself anywhere near his ex-wife the entire night.

"Does Meredith even know all these people?" George asked, a minute before he collapsed into the chair on the other side of Izzie. There were a lot of people there and she assumed most of them weren't of any relation to Meredith, because her friend hardly made mention of any. That meant friends – which to a doctor meant coworkers – and Derek's relatives.

"I think they're mostly Derek's family. Meredith told me he had a big family." She replied.

"His younger sister is hot." Alex interjected, and Izzie smacked him in the arm, drawing stares from a few of the guests. Apparently they were surprised to see two adult doctors acting like children at a formal gathering. "What I'm just making an observation?"

Izzie rolled her eyes, and looked to George, "Have you been able to talk to her yet? I can't even get her alone for longer than a minute without someone interrupting." Everyone wanted time with the bride, unsurprisingly, and as a result she hadn't said more than a sentence to Meredith in over an hour.

"Not since Cristina called to talk to her." It had been three months since Cristina had left and, though she was invited, she had told Meredith she wouldn't be able to make an appearance. Something about a surgery she just couldn't pass up. If Addison could show up to crash this wedding then Cristina should've been able to carve out time too. "She said she tried to call you but you didn't answer."

Izzie shrugged, "I didn't bring it," she glanced over at Alex, "since I couldn't find it." A quick pass by her room proved that she wasn't it's only occupant currently. Alex had been staying there for the past two weeks and the normal organization of her room had been destroyed. She had a feeling that after the stress of this day the problem would soon be resolved. When she was depressed or under pressure she cleaned; she nested.

"You should've heard her when I told her Dr. Montgomery was here," George tried not to laugh. "I wish I could've seen her face."

"This'll be a story they can tell their kids." Alex piped up. "Oh, honey did we ever tell them about the time McSatan showed up at our wedding."

"You know," a fourth voice cut in causing all three of them to turn and face the attending who stood with hands on hips, "I prefer ruler of all evil. It just sounds better; more important."

"Dr. Montgomery," George sputtered, sitting up straighter in his seat the same way he had when the chief had come by earlier on. He fought to leave off the Shepherd part. Old habits die hard.

"No need for formalities O'Malley. I'm not your superior anymore. You don't need to kiss my ass." Addison informed them with an easygoing tone that Izzie found surprising given the situation.

Intrigued, Izzie motioned to the seat across from her. "You can sit down if you want." She looked over just in time to catch the look of utter disbelief on George's face. Sure it seemed like a stupid thing to do, invite Satan to sit with them, but she couldn't help it.

Addison seemed surprised at the gesture but took the seat anyway, falling into it much less gracefully then one would expect. "Thanks."

This proved too much for George who promptly rose, mumbling, "I think Meredith still has my phone," by way of excusing himself. However since the direction he headed off in was one opposite the bride, Izzie quickly deduced that he just found the present situation too uncomfortable.

It was silent for a minute, before Addison leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs, and said, "Well, this is supremely awkward." Her eyes flicked over to Meredith and then back to them. "Please tell me that the invitation was a mistake and not some passive aggressive way of shoving her victory in my face."

The question was blunt and it caught Izzie off guard. "I'm pretty sure it was a mistake. They had some party planner do the invitations. I think they just gave him address books or something. Derek probably had yours in there."

Alex leaned forward in his seat, being uncharacteristically quiet lately, and asked, "Why did you come anyway. Isn't that a bit sadistic? Not to mention that dress." He eyed her, though she did so discreetly. As if Izzie didn't see him doing it. At the moment she didn't really care either.

"I came because it's the last thing people would expect me to do. And it's not in my nature to turn down an invitation." She said switching her gaze to Izzie, and adding, "You let him stare like that Stevens?"

"Let isn't the term I'd use." Izzie replied, glancing at Alex who had shrunk back, caught. He looked like a three year old who got caught stealing candy. "Honestly I'm too drunk to care right now."

Addison wrinkled her nose. "Off of what? The low-grade champagne they've got here. I wouldn't drink too much of that unless you feel like calling the bathroom home tonight. Carbonation helps no one."

Izzie shook her head. "That's why I'm drinking wine." She held up her glass seconds before downing the rest of its contents, all the while motioning to the bottle that sat on the table. "Care to join me?"

Without pause Addison held up her glass for Izzie to fill, which she only too happily did. Alex shook his head, and got up, muttering to himself as he left them to their wine. Izzie poured herself another glass, as Addison ran her fingers over the twisting stem of her own, contemplating something. Finally, "Interesting color choice for that dress. If I were you I would've told her to rethink it. Seems a tad familiar doesn't it?"

She was shocked to see that Addison remembered. "So says your ex." Now she burned holes in Derek's back for the comment, feeling much more liberated than she had earlier. "I figure let sleeping dogs lie. No use bringing it up."

"Spoken like a true friend." Addison replied, as she raised her glass towards Izzie's. "To irony."

Izzie smiled her first real smile of the night, and clinked her glass with the other woman's, watching Merlot slosh against the sides, as she repeated, "To irony."


End file.
